Comment by cogman10
1 day ago
> Microsoft told Forbes that the company sometimes provides BitLocker recovery keys to authorities, having received an average of 20 such requests per year.
At least they are honest about it, but a good reason to switch over to linux. Particularly if you travel.
If microsoft is giving these keys out to the US government, they are almost certainly giving them to all other governments that request them.
It's not like companies have a choice. If they have a key in their possession and law enforcement gets an order for it, they have to provide it.
That only strengthens the parent point. Switch to an OS where this requirement doesn't come into play if you're worried about any governments having a backdoor into your own machine.
> Switch to an OS where this requirement doesn't come into play
I use BitLocker on my Windows box without uploading the keys. I don't even have it connected to a Microsoft account. This isn't a requirement.
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If you sync your Linux machines key in the cloud, police could subpoena it too. The solution is not to switch to Linux, but to stop storing it in plain text in the cloud.
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> It's not like companies have a choice.
> If they have a key in their possession [...]
So they do have a choice.
People/users have an option to keep the key themselves. Most wouldn’t bother to manage encryption keys.
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And even if they don't have the key. Case in point: https://medium.com/@tahirbalarabe2/the-encryption-dilemma-wh...
Thanks for the link, interesting article. The UK is among the worst in this regard.
Regarding the article's Apple example:
> The FBI eventually found a third party to break into the phone, but the tension between privacy and security remains unresolved.
This is actually quite resolved.
- Tech companies in the US are free to write secure encryption technologies without backdoors.
- Government is free to try to break it when they have valid legal authority.
- Tech companies are obligated to turn over information in their possession when given a legal warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause that a crime has occurred.
- Tech companies are not required to help hack into systems on the government's behalf.
As far as I'm concerned, in the US things are perfectly resolved, and quite well I think. It's the government and fear-mongers who constantly try to "unresolve" things.
Why take the drastic step of switching to linux (a difficult endeavor) when you can simply turn off key uploading.
Why continue to use an operating system that’s adversarial towards you?
I will never understand this from software engineers/tech people in general. That demographic knows how technology works, and are equipped to see exactly where and how Microsoft is taking advantage of them, and how the relationship is all take and zero give from their end. These people are also in the strongest position to switch to Linux.
The only explanation that makes sense to me is that there's an element of irrationality to it. Apple has a well known cult, but Microsoft might have one that's more subtle? Or maybe it's a reverse thing where they hate Linux for some equally irrational reasons? That one is harder to understand because Linux is just a kernel, not a corporation with a specific identity or spokesperson (except maybe Torvalds, but afaik he's well-regarded by everyone)
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Microsoft is known for regularly altering the deal. Just because you configure the OS to not upload keys today, does not mean that setting will be respected in the future.
Pray I don’t alter it further.
Because that gives you a lot more control over your computer than just solving this particular issue. If you care about privacy it's definitely a good idea.
Because Microsoft absolutely will make it mandatory somewhere in the not so distant future.
you've baked in an unfounded assumption that bitlocker is even initially enabled intentionally by someone who knows that's a choice they can make:
> Here's what happens on your Dell computer:
> BitLocker turns on automatically when you first set up Windows 10 or Windows 11
> It works quietly in the background, you won't notice it's there
> Your computer creates a special recovery key (like a backup password) that's saved to your Microsoft account
> You might be reading this article because:
> Your computer is asking for a BitLocker recovery key
...such as after your laptop resets its tpm randomly which is often the first time many people learn their disk is encrypted and that there's a corresponding recovery key in their microsoft account for the data they are now unexpectedly locked out of.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/el-gr/000124701/automatic...
oh man, it's so difficult even teenagers can do it within an hour and all they have to do is click on a few buttons.
Yeah, the real question is what comes after the install...
All other governments is a stretch here, but likelihood of at least one another government getting same privileges is extremely high.
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